Mayor and Council Monique Lieuwen, Recycling and Solid Waste Coordinator Industrial, Commercial and Institutional Recycling Update

Transcription

1 Sa '~~ ABBOTSFORD Report No. ENG September 10, 2012 File No: ICI Recycling COUNCIL REPORT Executive Council To: From: Subject: Mayor and Council Monique Lieuwen, Recycling and Solid Waste Coordinator Industrial, Commercial and Institutional Recycling Update RECOMMENDATIONS 1. THAT Report No. ENG , dated September 10, 2012, from the Recycling and Solid Waste Coordinator, regar-:iing an Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) Recycling update, be received; and 2. THAT staff be directed to prepare and present an amendment to the Garbage, Recycling and Yard Waste Collection Bylaw, 2010, to require every Industrial, Commercial and Institutional property to: a. Provide a storage area for the collection of all commercial container recyclables; b. Ensure the storage containers are of sufficient volume; and c. Ensure collection is carried out every two weeks, or as needed. BACKGROUND The City began curbside collection of recycling for single family and duplex residential properties in In 2004, the Garbage, Recycling and Yard Waste Collection Bylaw No (the "Bylaw") was amended to require all multi-family residential complexes to provide recycling facilities and that the recyclables be taken to an authorized recycling depot. Discussions were also held at that time with the ICI sector regarding mandatory recycl ing at ICI properties, but it was decided that the City would allow time for the ICI sector to develop recycling programs and then determine if a bylaw requirement was necessary. Some progressive businesses and institutions havf" started recycling programs, with some businesses providing extensive recycling programs. However, many busines~,s are still not providing any recycling or are only collecting cardboard and paper. In spring 2011, consultation was held with the ICI community to discuss mandatory ICI recycling. At that time, a business recycling fee was also proposed. Significant feedback was received, and it was decided not to implement ICI recycling at that time. Report No. ENG summarized the above concerns and recommended further consultation with the ICI sector about mandatory ICI recycling. ANALYSIS In spring 2012, the City consulted with the ICI sector about the proposed mandatory recycling requirement. A complete list of the consultation, communication and correspondence can be found in Appendix A. Appendix B contains a list of concerns raised by the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce. Appendix C contains meeting minutes from the three consultation sessions and the meeting with Abbotsford haulers.

2 Report No. ENG Page 2 of 3 The majority of ICI respondents were supportive of making recycling mandatory under the Bylaw, as it was agreed that all businesses needed to make an effort to become more sustainable. It was also pointed out by some businesses that once they made an effort to separate their garbage from their recyclables, the program paid for itself through reduced garbage collection costs. Based on the feedback received, it is recommended the Bylaw be amended requiring every ICI property to: Provide a storage area for the collection of all commercial container recyclables Ensure the storage containers are of sufficient volume Ensure collection is carried out every two weeks, or as needed A draft copy of the proposed Bylaw amendment is included in Appendix D. A final consultation with the ICI sector will be held on August 29 at 7:00 p.m. where the draft Bylaw amendment will be reviewed. Additionally, draft detailed signage and a draft comprehensive recycling guide are being developed and will be available on the website and at this meeting for review and comment. If the Bylaw amendment is approved by Council, in order to help businesses transition to the new recycling program, City and Abbotsford Mission Recycling Depot (AMRD) staff will be available to perform site visits and make suggestions to assist businesses in implementing the new program. Additionally, signage and recycling guides will be made available. FINANCIAL PLAN IMPLICATION Costs at the AMRD may increase due to increased tonnage from the ICI sector, which would impact the solid waste reserve and/or the residential solid waste utility fee. As noted in ENG , the residential sector is currently subsidizing the lei sector with the actual amount of the subsidy dependent on commodity values and types received. Without the ICI sector paying a recycling fee, this will continue. The tonnage and source of recyclables received at AMRD will be monitored annually to ensure the cost to the residential sector has not been unreasonably impacted. STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS Increasing recycling in the ICI sector supports several of the City's strategic directions and priority objectives including: Conserving important natural areas Improving the health of our surface water, groundwater, and air shed Reducing corporate and community greenhouse gas emissions COMMUNICATION PLAN Staff will work with the Communications and Marketing Department, Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce, Abbotsford Downtown Business AssOCiation, ICI waste generators and waste haulers to develop an appropriate communication and engagement strategy and implementation plan.

3 Report No. ENG Page 3 of 3 SUMMARY Consultation shows that the revised Bylaw requirements are supported by businesses in the City, allowing them to demonstrate environmental responsibility. Therefore it is recommended that staff continue to proceed with the proposed Bylaw amendments. Jim Gordo,P.Eng. General anager of Engineering and Regional Utilities ]f), 1: l.,tp " 1 ~ Monique Lieuwen, E.I.T. Recycling and Solid Waste Coordinator B r Azevedo, P.Eng. ~Tracyye:p ng. Solid Waste and Environmental Engineer Director of Water and Solid Waste MUml Attachments

4 Appendix A - List of Consultation, Communication & Correspondence The spring 2012 consultation process included all of the following: A letter mailed to approximately 8000 ICI properties and property owners (May 1, 2012) Approximately 100 phone calls received by the City of Abbotsford Contact with 15 of the largest ICI properties in Abbotsford (June 2012) Tours of several large lei properties in Abbotsford Three employers visiting the City with questions Three ICI public consultation sessions in the spring (May 17, 29, and 30, 2012) One meeting with all haulers in Abbotsford (May 10, 2012) Two meetings with the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce (March 20 and May 31, 2012) Materials distributed to the Abbotsford Downtown Business Association (June 28, 2012) One final public consultation session (August 29, 2012) Four City page ads (May 11 and 25, 2012, August 17 and 24,2012) Twenty correspondence messages.

5 Appendix B - Chamber of Commerce Concerns and Responses Concern City Response Frequency of collection should Draft Bylaw was amended to read that collection not be prescriptive, especially for must be carried out "every two weeks, or as needed," small businesses. A list of available contractors will be provided in the Who will provide collection? ICI Recycling Guide, along with a list of questions to ask haulers. City will work with the Abbotsford Mission Recycling Will the service be catered to Depot (AMRD) to see if there can be after hours drop small businesses in any way? off for blue bags. City and AMRD staff are available to come out to ICI properties and make recommendations. Quite often What if space is an issue? garbage reduction will provide adequate space for recyclinq collection. Who is responsible for The owner or occupier (whoever arranges for contamination in multi-tenant garbage and recycling collection) will be responsible situations? for contamination. A letter will be sent to all ICI properties and property How will the ICI community be owners and staff will be available to answer educated? questions and make site visits. A preliminary visit will assess the situation, and make recommendations. Property owner/occupier will be How will the bylaw be enforced? given a date to comply by, and if compliance is not reached, City Bylaw staff willjjet involved.

6 ~,_ ~.~===~~ A;endiX C - ICI Consultation Meeting Minutes ABBOTSFORD ICI Recycling Meeting with Haulers Attendees: 16 Date: May 10, 2012 Scheduled Start Time: Actual Start Time: 2:00 pm 2:04 pm Attendees: 16 Attachment: Power point presentation Introduction of City employees and Recycling Depot staff Power point presentation (Barry Azevedo, Solid Waste & Environmental Engineer, and Monique Lieuwen, Recycling & Solid Waste Coordinator) o o o o o o o o History of municipal recycling program Progression from single family recycling to multi-family to ICI sector Mixed results of voluntary ICI recycling, therefore now implementing bylaw to make lei recycling mandatory 2011 consultation resu lts No recycling fee for ICI, but mandatory recycling is ok Current status Bylaw revision Proposed changes Active ICI properties to provide space for recyclables Delivery every two weeks to authorized facility City technical assistance Signage Staff training Site visits and recommendations Comprehensive recycling guide Implications for haulers Ensure delivery of recyclables Collection for all recyclables collected in curbside program Multi or sing le stream collection as long as all recyclables are collected Next steps Feedback until June 15 Consultations with ICI July report to council January 1, 2013 bylaw in effect (ideal) Feedback and Questions Engineering Department Tel: 604 j 86ill55 1 /, I Fax: , S,JUff, f fo~ e r Wcy, A~ hrrl.,forcl Be, V2T 1 '0/'17

7 Questions, Answers, and Comments 01: The guideline says that all recyclables must be delivered to an authorized recycling depot in the FVRD, which essentially means they can only go to the Abbotsford Mission Recycling Depot. Is that correct? A 1: The guideline is only draft and should only require recyclables to be delivered to authorized recycling depots, including those in the FVRD and Metro Vancouver, 02: What sort of enforcement will there be to ensure that the bylaw is adhered to? A2: Enforcement is likely to be complaint-driven, similar to what is currently done for the multi-family residential recycling program enforcement Complaints, presumably from employees and site users, will be followed up on. Ongoing non-compliance may lead to fines, 03: Will any documentation be required to ensure that recyclables are delivered to an authorized recycling depot? A3: There are no current plans to do so; we would like to keep things as simple as possible at this point in time. However, the City will take this point into consideration and may reconsider our current plans if they prove to be ineffective. 04: Is the collection of recyclables every two weeks a mandatory schedule for all organizations? It is possible that some locations will not generate enough recycling to warrant collection this frequently, A4: This is a good point, and The City will pay close attention to wording when drafting the regulation, A statement such as "Collection is required every two weeks, or as-needed", is possible, 05 (to attendees): What are some of the problems haulers envision may arise with Ute ICI Recycli ng initiative? AS: A potential issue is the response of ICI organizations to a change in cost. Ideally, waste for garbage collection would be reduced but many businesses are already recycling most of what they can. Consequently, their costs could be increased because of the extra collection requ ired for recycl ing, particularly if a pick-up every two weeks is required as a minimum. Comment: There are surcharges for recyclables found in garbage, so collectors are diligent about avoiding this situation, This does, however, still occur. 06: What communication has there been with the ICI sector? A6: Consultation with the ICI sector began last year. This year, leiters have been mailed to all ICI properties, as well as announcements in the newspaper and on the City website. In addition, we have already been in discussion with Chamber of Commerce to 2

8 increase knowledge of the initiative. Further communication includes three scheduled consultation sessions, and at least one more letter to all ICI properties. 07: How will the City respond to the non-compliance of a business? A7: Once the City has received notice from a resident, employee, or anyone regarding the non-compliance of a business, the City would call to advise the business of the bylaw requirements and provide them with a limited amount of time to comply. The City would not give an immediate fine, but if the non-compliance continued into the future, fines would be considered. 08: How will the City enforce any f ines giveln because of noncompliance? Would they enforce restrictions on the business license? A8: The City will follow up with any complaints, and would rely on the enforcement of the bylaw; which is done by enforcing fines. It is the City's belief that these fines should be adequate to address non-compliance issues. 09: Will the City assess waste collection area designs at businesses to ensure adequate space for collection? A9: City planning has started to address the limited space issue, but will not be assessing any existing establishments. Design suggestions provided to organizations should address this issue for new developments. 010: Is there any organics collection program for the ICI sector? A 10: A curbside residential compostable waste collection initiative is planned to begin January 1,2013 This initiative will begin with single family, and then proceed to multi family, and then finally to ICI (it is possible that organics collection for specific ICI sectors may begin earlier than for others). The earliest date for a compostable collection requirement for the tci sector would be January 1, 2015, but it is likely that this will not occur until later. 011: Are there any plans for a mixed recycling program for street cans in the downtown area? A 11: As of right now, many parks do have recycling containers; however there currently are none on the street side. Other cities such as North Vancouver have implemented such a program, and it is something we will look into. However, having recycling containers on the street side can be difficult because many beverage containers are collected by members of the public, and often garbage is all that remains at the end of the day. Comment: It may be difficult to enforce business to have separate recycling, but it should be simpler to allow people on the street to recycle. 3

9 012: When are the scheduled future consultation meetings? A12: May 17 1 :00 2:30 May 29 8:30-10:00 May 30 6:00 7: (to attendees): Would it be a problem for hauling clients to revise their contracts to allow for recycling collection? A 13: As long as service remains with the same company, it should not be an issue. 014 (to attendees): Who suggests a separate col lection for cardboard and remaining recycling? A 14: Contractors can provide lower cost to clients if cardboard is separated from other items because of the high value of cardboard. Haulers woutd not be paid for any collected cardboard if it were mixed with other things. Therefore, it is best if everything is separated. 015: (to attendees): What other authorized facilities accept materials in blue bag, besides the Abbotsford Mission Recycling Depot? A 15: There are some facilities in GVRD that accept blue bags (such as Emterra). 016: How would the City respond to business that claims they only need a bin for cardboard and one for garbage; claiming they have no other recyclabtes? A 16: If the City received a complaint that identified a co ncern with recyctables in garbage, the garbage may need to be inspected. If recyciables in the garbage are encountered, the business would have to show how they are disposing of recyclable items. Comment: It is likely that more contamination will resutt if a recycling program is forced onto people that are not enthusiastic about the idea. Response : There may be some resistance to the change at first; however it is likely that people will adjust over time. 017: What additional education for the ICI sector can be provided by City after they have received the initial brochure? A 17: The City staff in the engineering department and the ACS staff at the Recycling Depot are available as a reference. In addition, the Recycling Depot has a Recycling Education Coordinator who may respond to any questions or concerns. 018: How will the City address language barriers? A 18: The City does provide some document transtations in Punjabi, such as the handbook. It is assumed all businesses operating in Abbotsford have someone able to speak English, but items such as information stickers will be translated, and visual aids will be used when possible to increase understanding, 4

10 Q19: Will haulers have to worry about fines from garbage or recycling contamination? A 19: This program will not affect these fines, Thank you for attending o Contact information available: City of Abbotsford Engineering eng-info@abbotsford,ca Monique Lieuwen mlieuwen@abbotsford,ca

11 Date: May 17, 2012 Scheduled Start Time: 1 :00 pm Actual Start Time: 1 :09 pm Attendees: 9 1) Introduction 2012 ICI Recycling Initiative Consultation Session Minutes 2) Power Point Presentation (Barry Azevedo and Monique Lieuwen) See presentation on website: 3) Questions/Discussion Q1: What is a "soft enforcement"? A 1: A soft enforcement means that the regulation will officially be implemented on January 1, 2013, but because the City will not be issuing fines immediately to allow businesses to make the necessary adjustments. City inspections will likely be complaint driven, similar to the multi-family recycling started in The City has seen 99% compliance currently for the multi-family recycling program from our Q2: What does it mean to "provide sufficient volume"? A2: We have used such terms because other municipalities have used exact dimensions as recycling bin guidelines. We just want to make sure that there is sufficient volume for recyclables so there is always available space for recyclables and the recycling bins are never overflowing. Q3: How will this program deal with packaging changes in 2014? Is this something that has been addressed? A3: We do not yet know what Ihose changes will be. We do not see this as potentially conflicting with our current objectives, and we believe that the changes to packaging will fall under current bylaw compliance. 04 (to attendees): Do any of you see these changes as a potential problem? A4: It depends on how the program is designed, and what businesses are allowed to do. In Nova Scotia, it is relatively easy for the ICI sector to recycle. There may be some difficulty in businesses creating enough recyclables to warrant frequent collection. For some recyclables, businesses may prefer to dispose of outside the City (such as cardboard). Only having to recycle things from staff lunches does not create much volume. 05: What does an "authorized" recycling depot mean? A5 : It means a depot authorized under a regional district Solid Waste Management Plan, such as within the Solid Waste Management Plan of the Fraser Valley Regional District or Metro Vancouver. 06: What if a business does not generate enough things like solid plastic etc. for a set timeline for pickup? Engineering Department Tel; I 5514 I Fox: South F(ase( Way, Abbotsford BC, V2 T 1 W7

12 A6: The current bylaw is still a draft version, and as such, issues are still being considered. For example, the City may consider a timeline of "Every two weeks, or as needed" instead. Our main concern is not having overflowing recycling bins; we want to ensure that collection is frequent enough so there is always space for recyclables. Q7: Do the recycling containers need to be kept next to garbage containers? A7 : No they do not, but they must be kept in an equally or more convenient location. This may be inside, or outside, as long as it is accessible and userfriendly. Some businesses may have both inside and outside recycling bins. Q8: It says in the recycling guide for businesses to have recycling bins alongside all garbage containers, does this mean we should be collecting recyclables from consumers? A8 : The recycling requirements are for employee use as a minimum. The City strongly encourages businesses to make recycling facilities available to consumers. 09: Some places do collect post-consumer recyclables, and use this as a selling point. Do you envision including this in the bylaw? A9: It is not part of our current plan. Metro Vancouver has already banned recyclables in garbage being delivered to their transfer stations and landfills. Other local governments may consider such bans in the future including at private transfer stations and landfills. Therefore, it would be good to start planning for these future bans now. 010: What thoughts have you had of the enforcement of this bylaw? A 10: We will be in consultation with Bylaw Enforcement as to how they would like to proceed. We will likely take the same position as we do with the multi-family recycling program: If we find a business is not complying with the bylaw, we will call them and discuss the issue with the business. 011 : Are small business owners required to have recycling facilities? Would this put the responsibility to recycle onto the business owner rather than the lea see? A 11: All small business owners are required to have recycling facilities. They can share with a neighboring business or drop recyclables off at the Abbotsford Mission Recycling Depot. The responsibility for meeting the bylaw requirements will likely be with whoever is responsible for garbage collection at the site. 012: How will you respond if people do not want to participate in the program? A 12: Our response will consist of a bylaw enforcement officer, along with someone from the Engineering department performing a site visit. We find that taking the steps of communication and site visits generally solves the issue. We will also be looking to haulers to notice recycling compliance issues. 013: What would a recycling program look like for a large facility like a mall? A 13: Several large facilities already have recycling programs, such as Sevenoaks mall, which has a comprehensive recycling program. In addition, the Tradex facility and the Lucerne facility also have their own recycling programs. 2

13 For example, the Lucerne recycling program has allowed them to save money by sending fewer containers to the dump each year by extensive recycling including for items such as wood pallets and organics. The tipping fee for most recyclables items is less than that for garbage, creating incentive for waste separation. Comment: The City plans on initiating a curbside compostable collection on Jan. 1,2013. There will be a tipping fee for these organics at the private compost processing facility that will be significantly less than for garbage. 014: Will there be an ongoing promotional/education program for the ICI sector to get them on board? A14: Initially the City has had ads, letters, and several consultation sessions. Once the program gets started, businesses may phone and ask questions, and may even request for city employees to go into the business to help them get established. Recommendation: It would be beneficial to go to trade associations, like the Retail Council of Canada and the Grocers C01Jncii of Canada, so they may contact their members. National retailers are often not contacted by the Chamber of Commerce and many are unaware of the ICI recycling initiative. Additionally, it would be good to contact the Chamber of Commerce and request to present information at large monthly meeting, as this presentation could reach a larger audience. 4) Closing Comments Feedback on the program is welcomed until June 15, when we will report back to Council. Further information is available on our website. Any further questions can be directed to Monique. Thank you for your participation. 3

14 ~~~ ABBOTSFORD 2012 ICI Recycling Initiative Date: May 29, 2012 Scheduled Start Time: 8:30 am Actual Start Time: 8:47am Attendees: 6 1) Introduction Consultation Session Minutes 2) Power Point Presentation (Barry Azevedo and Monique Lieuwen) See presentation on website: 3) QuestionslDiscussion Q1: During the consultation process you have referred to taxes as paying for recycling and not a fee. With Abbotsford Community Services operating at such a high standard, would an increased willingness to participate in a recycling program lead to a potential reduction in homeowner taxes? A 1: There is a cost to recycling. If the City was to not include some items as recyclables, such as glass and certain plastics, the cost could be reduced. Some things do cost money to recycle, and as the market goes down, the commodity value goes down. The recycling depot accepts a large range of materials in a single stream system which facilitates higher participation rates. By expanding the recycling program to businesses, the operation may generate more funds when the market is high, but this will not always be the case. Currently, the solid waste program is self-funding. Although not currently under bylaw, in practice the solid waste program has its own reserve budget. If the City was to generate a large excess of funds, we would certainly consider reducing residential utility fees. Q2: Is it not true that the recycling depot has an excess of 5 million dollars? A2 : The City currently has control of this reserve fund, which has been built up over fifteen years. This fund does not go to general revenue, but stays within the solid waste fund. We will have to expand the recycling depot at some time, and we had to purchase a new bailer three years ago for $350,000. We need to have this money available to use on the depot. Q3: What will happen when the new provincial regulations regarding multimaterials are instated? Would the recycling of some items be contracted out to Multi-Materials BC? A3 : The most likely scenario is that our recycling depot would have the capacity to recycle these items. This could be more of a question in rural areas where they do not have the resources to recycle certain things. The BC Ministry of Environment Extended Producer Responsibility program would assign certain streams of materials with an eco-fee which would be collected by the industry association that runs the programs. These eco fees will go back to municipalities and recycling depots to pay for the collection and processing of those materials. At this point, we do not know how it will turn out. In any case, the ICI sector will still have to collect their materials, likely in a similar system to what we are now Engineering Department Tel, Fax' So uth Froser Wo y, Abbotsford 8e, V2T lw7

15 proposing. The Ministry of Environment has received this feedback from municipalities, and we do not foresee any difficulties. 04: Many businesses have already established their own recycling programs. Will they be affected by the proposed bylaw? A4 : If they are already recycl ing all applicable materials, they should not be affected as these items do not necessarily have to go to City depot, but can go to any authorized recycling depot. 05: What do you mean by "sufficient volume"? A5: We used this wording to provide flexibility to businesses so each business can provide the system that works best for them. In contrast, Metro Vancouver has drafted a similar bylaw requiring recycling, but they are very prescriptive in their description of acceptable recycling containers. The City's proposed wording implies that the container size is up to your discretion, as long as they are never overflowing and have capacity to collect available recycling. 06: Are haulers going to be involved in collection for the new by taw? Or would we have to have blue bags being sent to the recycling depot? A6: According to the proposed bylaw, either option is acceptable. 07: Suppose we are a landowner that does not know what our tenants are doing regarding recycling. Is the responsibility on the landlord or the tenant? A7: The intention is that whoever is responsible for the garbage is also response for providing recycling facilities. There is no requirement for participation (using recycling containers), but there will be a fine if a recycling bin is overflowing. There is currently a fine applied if recycling is found in garbage containers as part of the Metro Vancouver system, of which Abbotsford is a client. Contamination is already an issue for many businesses, and this new regulation should not have a great effect on this issue. The suggested collection frequency of every two weeks has generated a lot of feedback, and we are considering a modification to "every two weeks, or as needed". 08: Would this increase the waste bill for businesses by having recyclables picked up as well? A8: It may, particularly initially, however, by paying attention to the amount of garbage and recycling in your containers and the frequency of collection, and by working with your waste contractor, businesses may often reduce their waste costs by decreasing garbage collection frequency and container size (as seen with Lucerne and London Drugs). The cost for disposal of garbage is fairly expensive, whereas the cost of disposal of recycling is free. 09: Small businesses pay a flat fee for garbage, and now they will also have to pay for recycling, would their fees not increase? A9: Not necessarily as they could reduce the size of their garbage container and/or their collection frequency. Recyclables do not have a tipping fee. If volume is an issue, they may work with other small businesses to increase the amount for collection to increase efficiencies for the waste contractor. Some businesses might find that their hauler may not want to change contract temns which could be an issue but will most likely not be a frequent occurrence. The City has heard from haulers that they will not make it an issue to amend your contract.

16 Businesses will have to pay more if they do not reduce their garbage bin size, or garbage collection frequency. tn addition, more items will be recyctable with new regulations from the provincial government. 010: Has there been much pushback from the lei sector for this proposal? A10 : There has not been much at all, and this is the third meeting we have had. It is our belief that businesses want to be sustainable and will support the new reg ulation.

17 ~,.""",, :=.-~~ ABBOTSFORD 2012 ICI Recycling Initiative Date: May 30, 2012 Scheduled Start Time: 6:00 pm Actual Start Time: 6:12 pm Attendees: 4 1} Introduction Consultation Session Minutes 2} Power Point Presentation {Barry Azevedo and Monique Lieuwen} See presentation on website: 3} Questions/Discussion 01: Has this bylaw been reviewed by WeB? A large volume of compostables collected could be viewed as a hazardous waste. A 1: The bylaw has not been reviewed by WeB, but many businesses are currently recycling with no issue. The bylaw only applies to blue bag recyclables, and not compos tables. 02: Will I need to provide spaces for customers 10 recycle? A2: If you are distributing recyclable materials, you would provide receptacles for them. With the current proposed bylaw, you would not have to separate items consumers throw in garbage. This bylaw is not intended to be for the consumer, only for staff and recyclables generated in the store. 03: I already recycle everything, such as paper, cardboard, and newspaper. How will I be affected by the bylaw? A3: This bylaw is intended to address those that do not recycle at all or do not recycle all required recyclables, including glass and plastics 1, 2, 4 and 5. The City has found that voluntary participation has not been very effective for the entire lei sector, and we would like to address this issue with the proposed bylaw. 04: Would I be charged if recyclables are found in the garbage? A4: If we find that recyclables are cons istently being thrown in the garbage by staff, we would address the issue by providing staff to help your business establish a recycling educalion program. 05: We find that people dump their garbage in our garbage container. Items from the public, such as oil containers, end up in our garbage and we cannot control this issue. A5: The bylaw just requires that you have a location available to recycle items; it doesn't address the use {or abuse} of this location. However, the Matsqui Transfer Station does have a ban on recyclables; if they find that you have too many recyclables in your garbage {>5%}, there is a $50 fine. Aside from that, if items are dumped in your containers it should be fairly easy to prove that they did not originate in your store. Engineering Department Tel: I Fax: 604! 853 ; Soulh Froser Woy, Abbotsford BC, V21 1 W7

18 Q6: Are we expected to wash out empty containers that contained things like bleach, antiseptics and soap? A6 : No, they often should just receive a quick rinse to ensure there is no remaining product. Comment: It would be interesting to have someone come to our business to see what needs to be done. Response: There are people from the City and Abbotsford Community Services Recycling Program who are available to visit your business and help you to establish a proper recycling program. Q7: How should we deal with organics? Our current waste contractor does not provide organics collection. A7: It is often difficult for waste collectors to find somewhere to send organics. For organics collection, the City is going to start with residential collection, and will eventually move on to the ICI sector. The City is currently working with a private composting company to build a compost facility in town. The facility is planned to be open for business on January 2, as: Our waste collection costs are based on volume, so will our costs not go up, along with the processing fee? We will have to pay more if we are asking our collector to take more items such as recyclables. AS : There is no tipping fee for recyclables, only for garbage, but you will pay more if you are unable to reduce the amount of garbage requiring collection. The cost to you should remain the same, or decrease if you are able to reduce your garbage collection. Comment: As long as this bylaw is instated fairly there should not be too many issues with the ICI sector. There may be a bit of push back from some businesses, but overall I do not see many problems arising. a9: If I am a small business owner operating out of my home, will I be required to establish a recycling collection? The bylaw states that every business needs to have a recycling system, but I do not generate many recyclables. A9: If you are already using the residential blue bag then there is not an issue, and you need not have any concerns about the new bylaw. Comment: This bylaw will not really affect those businesses that are already recycling everything they can (such as Sevenoaks and the hospital).

19 Appendix D - Bylaw Recommendations 10 b) Industrial, Commercial or Institutional Property Every Owner or Occupier of a Commercial Container Recyclables Property must implement a program for the regular collection of Commercial Container Recyclables generated on the property and arrange for their delivery and deposit to a Recycling Depot in accordance with the following requirements: i. a storage area for all collection containers for Commercial Container Recyclables must be provided on the property and located alongside the regular containers used for garbage collection by the provider of that service, except where the Commercial Container Recyclables can be collected in a location that is more convenient for the property users; ii. the collection containers for Commercial Container Recyclables must be of a sufficient volume and number to handle all Commercial Container Recyclables generated on the property; and iii. the collection of Commercial Container Recyclables and their delivery to a Recycling Depot must be carried out at least once every two weeks, or as needed. DEFINITIONS: "Commercial Container Recyclables Property" means any land, building or structure where the Owner or Occupier provides for the regular collection of Garbage and which is used for a commercial, industrial or institutional purpose. "Occupier" has the same meaning as defined in the Community Charter. Note - "Owner" and "Recycling Depot" are already defined.